Welsh Govt vows full cooperation with grooming gangs inquiry

FM DENIES REJECTING CALL FOR WALES PROBE

- By ROB MINCHIN

THE Welsh Government will co-operate fully with the national inquiry into grooming gangs and child abuse, the First Minister has said.

Eluned Morgan said she welcomed the decision by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to hold a statutory inquiry into child abuse across England and Wales.

Baroness Casey's report, published on Monday, found the ethnicity of perpetrators had been “shied away from”, with data not recorded for two-thirds of offenders.

The rapid national audit looking at the scale of grooming gangs was announced in January as part of measures to tackle the issue.

Earlier this year, the Government dismissed calls for a public inquiry, saying its focus was on putting in place the outstanding recommendations made in a seven-year national inquiry by Prof Alexis Jay.

Speaking at First Minister's questions in the Senedd, Ms Morgan said: "This is an incredibly sensitive issue and it's really important we put the needs and concerns of the victims right at the very centre of what we do.

"I want to reassure you that there's absolutely no complacency in the Welsh Government. If women or children are being abused, I want to know about it and I want us to step in and to prevent it.